7. “Take Five” – 1959

Composer: Paul Desmond

Named for its distinctive 5/4 time signature, “Take Five” was first released on The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Time Out album. At the time, Desmond was the band’s alto sax player. Because the entire record was an extended experiment in time signatures that were unusual in jazz and consisted of entirely original material — not a single show tune or popular standard to be heard — Columbia records considered it to be a nonstarter in terms of sales. It was wrong. “Take Five” became the first purely instrumental jazz tune to break the one million mark in single's sales. That band’s original version is still the benchmark later recordings are measured by. Desmond died in 1977, stipulating that all future proceeds from the song be donated to the Red Cross.